Mazdaspeed Protege 2003 Compact Sedan

Comments

I've owned two '92 Protege LXs, my current 2000 ES and my wife now drives an '02 Protege5. All four vehicles have been absolutely problem-free, requiring nothing but scheduled maintenance (I drove my second '92 83,000 miles and my current '00 ES has 48,800 miles on it after only 31 months of ownership).

I cannot compare these four Japanese-made vehicles with the awful Ford-made 1994 Mazda B2300 pickup I owned. It was nothing but problems and spent weeks at a time in the shop -- all due to engine troubles that began at 8,000 miles. Yes, Mazda helped me out and waived (can you believe it?) the expiration of my warranty, covering all repairs until I got rid of the truck two years after the warranty expired. Great, you say? Well, it still had at least one inconvenient stay at the dealership per month -- several for a week or more and one for two weeks and one day, no exaggeration; I have the inch-thick pile of paperwork to prove it -- and I think I drove just about every car available in Enterprise's rental fleet, all at Mazda's expense. In my frustrated searches for a fix to the problem, which caused Mazda to spend more than $4,000 and still not fix my $12,900 truck, I actually found two people on the Internet, one in Colorado and one in New Jersey, who were having the exact same problems and also having no luck at their dealerships.

Now, I predict Maltb will come in here and shoot me down, as he does every time I bring up the truck, telling me his was wonderful. But let me say this -- I think it's ironic that FOUR Japanese-made Mazdas gave me not one iota of trouble, but my experience with ONE Ford-made Mazda product was a real bummer. Any idiot knows that the chances were much higher that I'd have a bad experience with the four cars than with just one pickup.

Disclaimer: My experiences, my opinions. Please don't eat me up for stating facts that happened to me. I've been a Mazda customer exclusively for 12 years now, and I plan to replace my current Protege with a 6 in 2005 or 2006 -- but I will never purchase another Ford-built Mazda product. It makes me sick to think the 6-cylinder Mazda6 has a Ford Duratec engine in it -- that fact alone may be enough to sway me to settle for the 4-cylinder, all Mazda version.

I have owned 3 MAZDA trucks in the past, 84,88, and 92. The best part about those trucks (well maybe not the 84) was that they drove like cars. They were simple small trucks that got the job done for the average homeowner. If you need to move two tons of bricks every other weekend, obviously there is a slew of "tough" trucks made by domestic companies, but thats just a different market. the ford b series trucks have been nothing but trouble from the get go. They are so underpowered for having "big" engines its not funny. We have had more TSB's to go along with every model of 93 up b series, you could fill a football stadium with them. Just another way in which ford has enhanced the quality at mazda.

Try multiplying that number by 10 or so. Be a man and admit that you publish a retort every time I breathe a criticism about my '94 B2300. Don't make me have to take the time to go back and copy posts to prove you wrong to these fine people. I know Pat could confirm what I'm saying, but she'll probably take a middle-of-the-road position on this. Actually, since this won't do anyone any good (nor are many folks interested in this), I have a better idea: Let's just drop it and let this discussion get back to the Mazdaspeed Protege. No more about the truck problems from me, at least here.

To mdaffroan I also drove a 1992 pro for 257,000 km - all trouble free. But my 2002 2litre has all sorts of quirky engine problems - including a severe engine vibration in the steering wheel and gearshift lever. Did Ford go cheap on the motor mounts?

I saw my first Mazdaspeed Protege during a weekend trip to Vegas. A group of 4 young (late teens to early twenties) kids were standing around talking while it was being filled at the gas station. I asked them how they liked it and if it had as much torque steer as I have read. One of the kids said it has a lot of torque steer when under heavy acceleration. I mentioned that my Passat with the 1.8T doesn't have any torque steer and has the same HP as his Protege but that my VW has to pull more weight so it isn't as fast or handle as well as the MSP. He said that I was full of it because his Protege had 240 HP! Is there a chip mod out there to crank the stock 170 HP for the MSP up to 240 HP? I personally think he was misinformed about the power of his ride. Any input?

it could be possible but he should check his rods to make sure they are still straight. The MSP runs a relatively low boost so that the aging 2.0 doesn't grenade itself. The boost and fuel delivery are there, but they just need to be unlocked. At 240hp, which is possible, he'll be doing engine swaps every 6 months.

I figured a salesman was blowing smoke up this guys skirt leading him to believe that he had more ponies under the hood than he was stating. I think the salesmen told him "it had been turboed to 40 Hp more than a stock Protege" and he misheard him and thought he said "it had been turboed 240 HP, more than a stock Protege".

Yeah, I know the 1.8T has a lot of potential. Audi uses the same unit in the TT that cranks out 225 HP and is still covered under full factory warranty.

I have been looking at the MazdaSpeed and the Nissan SE-R. I like them both and everyone tells me to get the mazda but I have heard that mazda cars don't last as long as nissans. I drive about 65 miles a day and would like a reliable car. Any suggestions?